Paraffin dislodging tool



March 2, 1948. w HANKE v I 2,437,193

PARAFFIN DI SLODGING TOOL Fild Feb. 1, 1945 Inventor ADOLPH M. HA NKE Patented Mar. 2, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Adolph W. Hanke, Weleetka, Okla.

Application February 1, 1945, Serial No. 575,662

accumulated paraiiin deposits from oil well tubesand casings, its purpose being to provide a satisfactory and convenient way of permitting the thus'loosened strips and particles of paraflin to be flown from the well casing for subsequent separation and removal.

The customary or usual practice in thisline of endeavor is to pull the complete string of tubing, lay it down on a suitable chamber and then to apply heat, from a suitable source, to loosen and melt the parafiin; or, to haul the tubing to a boiler where steam pressure is em,- ployed to accomplish the same ends.

In accordance with the principles of the instant invention, I provide an especially designed paraflin dislodging tool which is'rapidly deciprocated in a well casing or tubing, the structure of said tool being such as to gouge, shave and dislodge the paraflin deposits and to thus break same into sufliciently small pieces to be flown out from the casing, thisby allowing the well to flow from five to twenty barrels per hour and thus carrying off the parafiin particles and pieces.

More specifically, the preferred tool comprises an elongated tube having resilient adaptable cutting and shaving means on the leading or Working end, there beingarod mounted for in.- dependent-reciprocation in the tube and said rod having a spearhead on its forward or Working end and appropriate cleaning means to prevent clogging of the cutting blades with adhering parafiin, whereby to keep same in good working order during the operation of the tool.

Other features and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description and the accompanying illustrative drawings.

In the drawings, wherein like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the views:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a paraflin dislodging and removing tool constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a central longitudinal section taken on the plane of the line 2-'-2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross-section on the line 33 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing a modified spearhead with radial cleaning fingers.

2 Claims. 166-18) 2 Figure 5 is a fragmentary side elevational View showing the bladed scraping and cutting unit.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of the scraping and cutting unit by itself.

Referring now to the drawings by distinguishing reference numerals, it will be seen that the cylinder or tube is denoted by the numeral 1; This serves as a guide as well as a sheath-like holder for the reciprocating rod 8. The rod is threaded, as at 9, the latter end being tapped into a socket in the coupling element It, and said element l0 having another socket H at its opposite end to accommodate a weight or sink which is used in connection with the tool, said sink not shown. The forward or working end of the rod is fashioned into a pointed spear I2 of appropriate length, the innerend of said spear providing a shoulder, as at l3, to alternately strike the adjacent lower or leading end of the tube 1 to provide the desired intermittent impact and jarring blows between the respective parts 1 and 8.

The parafiin scraping and cutting means carried by the tube 1' is denoted, as a unit, by the numeral 4. This unit comprises a pair of parallel spaced spring arms I5 having their laterally offset inner ends l6 secured by fastenings I! to diametrically opposite sides of the adjacent tubeend. It may be desirable in certain instances to use, in addition to the fastenings l1, spaced tack-welds. The arms terminate in an annular cutter head l8 and this is divided by a pair 'of longitudinal diametrically opposite slits I9 into duplicate semi-circular half '-sections 20. The resiliency of this construction enables the cutting blades, thus formed, to yield and conform to slight irregularities, if any, in the well casing or tubing. It is also desirable, for more efficient scraping results to provided with a twisted wire attachment 22 which is suitably anchored, as shown, and which forms a sort of a whip, this whirling around between the blades or knives 20 to dislodge parafiin and to clean said blades and promote eifective operation of the latter. If instead of providing the whip-wire 22 other means is desirable, I can use, for example, radial cutting prongs 23, as brought out in the modification shown in Figure 4,

Many oil producing wells, obviously, accumu late paraffin deposits within the entire surfaces of 3 the walls of the tubing, especially high pressure flowing wells. This makes it difiicult to manage the wells and also equally diflicult to remove the parafiin, especially by the crude. and time-taking methods heretofore set forth.

In using the tool herein shown, a lubrlcator must be placed on top of the master gate or tubing and the tool must be inserted through the lubricator, which is a little longer than the length of said tool. A wire line stuffing box with a pulley is placed on top of the lubricator. The tool can be used as long as the well flows by running it in, on a small steel line and flowing the well during the operation on a small choke, thus permitting the oil to flow into the tank without loss of oil.

The device is operated by drilling the tool on and down with two or three-foot strokes and making thirty to forty strokes per minute and allowing the well to flow-from five to twenty barrels ,per hour, thus carrying off the paraffin.

It is also to be noted that the notched blades cut the parafiin from the walls ofthe tubing and that the reciprocatory spearhead goes up and down between said blades each time and this mixes the parafiin, allowing it to flow out with the oil-and at the same timepreventing clogging of said blades. The-shoulder on the rod, which forms the juncture between the rod and spearhead, strikes the adjacent end of the tube 5 and this provides the desired intermittent jarring action, thus lifting the cutting head or unit at each stroke of the reciprocatory rod and spearhead. The spearhead spins freely mixing the par-afin and thus keeping the blades clean. The aforementioned sinker which is attached to the coupling [0 (said sinker not shown) is some two or three feet long and weighs fifteen to twenty-five pounds according to the weight the operator desires. The sinker forces the tool into the paraffin. The notched blades cut the parafiin into strips, making it easier to mix same and also tokeep said blades clean. The tool is highly polished outside to prevent paraffin from sticking on the surface. It has been found that a tool of this typewill cut from one hundred to two hundred and fifty feet per hour by following'the procedure set forth.

A careful consideration of the foregoing description in conjunction with the invention as i1- lustrated in the drawings will enable the reader to obtaina clear understanding and impression of the alleged features of merit and novelty sufficient 'to clarify the construction of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

Minor changes in shape, size, materials and rearrangement of partsv may be resorted to in actual practice so long as no departure is made from the invention-as claimedr I claim:

,1; Aparaflindislodging toolfor oil well casings element thereon to whirl against said knives for keeping same clean and in working order, said coupling rneans and spearhead being disposed outwardly of the respective opposite ends of said tubular body. and constituting longitudinally spaced stop shoulders engageable with said opposite'ends."

2. A paraflin dislodging tool for oil well casings comprising an elongated open-ended tubular body, paraflin cutting, scraping and-dislodging means, said means embodying blades which are substantially semi-circular, opposed and arranged to provide an annular scraping unit resiliently attached to the-leading end of said tubular body, and extending forwardly thereof, a rod extending slidably through and beyond opposite-ends of said tubular body, said rod being provided on one end with coupling means having a stop shoulder engageable with the rearward end of said tubular body, a spearhead on the opposite end of said, rod, said spearhead being on that end of the rod which extends between and beyond said blades and functioning as a stop,

shoulder engageable with the leading end of said tubular body, said spearhead being slidable in and out of said annular scraping unit and provided with cleaning elements which are operable to dislodge paraifin which may adhere to the scraping blades when in operation, the combinedv length of said rod and spearhead being such that the spearhead may, when in operation, proect wholly beyond said scraping blades.

ADOLPH W. HANKE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 399,346 Poulesson Mar. 12, 1889 595,780 Krisan Dec. 21, 1897 1,180,230 Bowman Apr. 18, 1916 1,180,485 French Apr. 25, 1916 2,001,270 Slaugenhop May 14, 1935 2,283,048 Collett May 12, 1942 2,315,069 McKean et a1 Mar. 30, 1943 2,322,419 Cranford June 22, 1943 2,326,528 Festervan et a1. Aug. 10, 19.43 

